Help them escape from Grandma's house

209: Snubbull

Snubbull was another one of those Pokemon that got caught up in the Gen 2 hype cycle, most notably showing up in the short before the first movie. While we're not wildly fond of Snubbull for any particular reason, it still has that much as far as sentimentality goes.

That's not to say we don't like Snubbull though. It's a nice enough design, with the grumpy visage of a cartoon bulldog and the snooty fashion sense of how an overly caring dog lady would dress their "precious baby". It's definitely a stand-out among dog Pokemon, being one of the very few that stands upright. Almost kind of gives it the colorful, chibi animal vibe of an Animal Crossing villager. It's probably this aesthetic that landed it a new Fairy typing back when they re-jigged types in Gen 6.

Why do I get the feeling this thing has gotten into a tussle with a cat named Tom

210: Granbull

And that new Fairy type honestly heightened the appeal of Granbull a bit. Before, it seemed like a slightly less unique, albeit logical progression of Snubbull's design, now having a much more "beware of dog" look to it with an exaggeratedly monstrous underbite to it. While serviceable, it didn't feel like anything writing home about until it wound up with the Fairy typing, which gives it a much more unique flare now. Even at this point in the series, there was a good handful of "mean" or "scary" Normal types, which caused Granbull to not really stand out that much. Let alone when future Gens just added more. Now that it has the Fairy type, it honestly stands up much better compared to its fellow Fairies, a normally fairly cutesy aesthetic now juxtaposed by an aggressive and overtly monstrous design whose energy has only really been matched by Grimmsnarl in the future. An unexpected, but nonetheless funny way to breath new life into a forgotten oldie.